Commentary on Psalm 47

Psalm 47 is classified as an enthronement psalm, a psalm celebrating God’s sovereignty over all creation. The only other enthronement psalms in the Psalter are grouped together in Book 4 (Psalms 93–99).¹ That makes Psalm 47 a bit of an outlier in two ways. First, it occurs in Book 2 rather than being grouped with Book 4’s collection; second, it is the only enthronement psalm that does not include aspects of the nonhuman creation in its cry to celebrate God’s sovereignty. Let us explore its position in Book 2, turn our attention to its content, and then reflect on its words in our 21st-century multicultural, multireligious context.

Psalm 47 is one of Book 2’s collection of seven psalms “of the Korahites” and seems an apt follow-on to the closing words of Psalm 46 (verse 10): “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” Psalm 47, then, opens with the words “Clap your hands, all you peoples … For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.”

On this Ascension Day, the words of Psalm 47 fit well with the other lectionary readings. God, who sent Jesus to proclaim the good news of the gospel all peoples, is sovereign over all the earth. James L. Mays writes that the early church used Psalm 47 to celebrate the ascension of Jesus, and our 21st-century lectionary readings follow that practice.²

A second observation about Psalm 47, one that sets it apart from Book 4’s collection of enthronement psalms, is the anthropomorphic focus of the psalm. Unlike the enthronement psalms in Book 4, which repeatedly invoke all of creation, human and nonhuman, in celebration of God’s sovereignty, Psalm 47 focuses solely on humanity. In its words, we find a call to “all you peoples” to “shout to God with loud songs of joy,” followed by repeated references to “subdued peoples,” “nations,” “princes,” and “the people of the God of Abraham.”

The enthronement psalms in Book 4 call on all of creation, human and nonhuman alike, to celebrate and/or acknowledge God’s sovereignty over the earth.

• In Psalm 93, the floods, the mighty waters, and the waves of the sea acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
• In Psalm 95, the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountains, the sea, and the dry land are in God’s control.
• Psalm 96 admonishes the heavens to be glad, the earth to rejoice, the field to exult, and all the trees of the forest to sing for joy.
• Psalm 97 invites the coastland to be glad, and reminds all creation that God is indeed sovereign.
• Psalm 98 calls “all the earth” to make a joyful noise, break forth into joyous song and sing praises to the Lord, and let the sea roar, the floods clap their hands, and the hills sing together.

It so often seems that humanity has taken control over creation—the sea, the rivers, the mountains, the trees of the forest, the coastlands: all those places that provide habitats for the nonhuman members of creation—and has forgotten that we, that humanity, is only one element in the larger creation over which God is sovereign.

Clinton McCann Jr. states that the enthronement psalms are the heart of the Psalter—with the clear message that God is sovereign over the earth.³ On this Ascension festival, perhaps the words of Psalm 47 should be approached with a healthy measure of caution. I write this reflection in the midst of the warfare between Hamas and Israel (November 2023). In the fractious world in which we live in the 21st century, such words suggesting that the “pride of Jacob” is God’s chosen heritage (verse 4) could add fuel to an already smoldering fire or perhaps the full-fledged fire that is already burning.

God is indeed sovereign over the world. Perhaps the words of Psalm 47:9 might be more fitting in the context in which we find ourselves: “The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.” May our shared faiths find peace and healing in this very trying time.

Notes

1. I include Psalm 94 in the grouping of enthronement psalms, though it is classified as a Psalm of Vengeance. The God who reigns over the earth is also the God who metes out justice in the earth. See Nancy L. deClaisse-Walford, Psalms Books 4–5, Wisdom Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2020), 22–26.
2. James L. Mays, Psalms, Interpretation (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), 188.
3. J. Clinton McCann Jr., “The Book of Psalms,” New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 4, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 868.